Google, NSA Anything

Google and N.S.A. are entering into a secret agreement that could impact the privacy of millions of users of Google’s products and services around the world

—Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center: NYT. Rotenberg’s comments frame the announced agreement between the NSA and Google to review the securitybreachattributed to the Chinese government. Importantly, the selection of the NSA over the Department of Homeland Security would shield Google from further regulation as a part of the nation’s critical infrastructure. The investigation and partnership comes at a time when Dennis Blair, director of the Office of National Intelligence, and others have begun talking about a cyber pearl harbor, evoking the recent use of the term economic pearl harborto describe the financial crisis. The relationship will technically follow the terms of the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986 and be known as a cooperative research and development agreement.